5th Oct 2020
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Ms Cheng Li Hui
MP for Tampines GRC
Question No. 73
To ask the Minister for Health (a) in the past three years, how many babies have been born through the use of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF); (b) what is the success rate of IVF when using fresh, versus frozen, eggs; and (c) what are the current measures to help couples address infertility issues.
Answer
1 From 2016 to 2018, 4,673 babies were born through the use of assisted reproduction technology (ART).
2 International scientific literature shows that the success rates for fresh and frozen eggs are largely comparable.
3 Ministry of Health has recently enhanced support for couples in meeting their parenthood aspirations. Earlier this year, we removed the age limit of 45 years old for women to undergo ART treatments, and removed the cap on the number of ART cycles for all women.
4 Government co-funding for up to six ART cycles and three cycles of intrauterine insemination (IUI) procedure is also available to defray the out-of-pocket costs for eligible couples at public AR centres. In addition, couples can use MediSave to pay for assisted conception procedures, which include both ART and IUI, at all AR centres.